Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows

[Steve Adams]

What happened to @LiE_ ? he's been outta here for a bit? buying new pc parts? ha ha.

 

[LiE_]

What happened to @LiE_ ? he's been outta here for a bit? buying new pc parts? ha ha.

I’m still here, still fully Apple. I think this thread has gone a little off topic with a few active posters documenting everything to do with hardware which isn’t flip flop related, and it’s not a discussion I’m interested in.

I may come and post in here from time to time let people know how I’m currently fairing. I’m glad I’ve reached a point where I’m not itching for something else. I’ve burnt some bridges in this final flip back to Apple.

I’ve also started therapy because I do think there is some underlying issue with contentment.

 

[The_Interloper]

I’m still here, still fully Apple. I think this thread has gone a little off topic with a few active posters documenting everything to do with hardware which isn’t flip flop related, and it’s not a discussion I’m interested in.

I may come and post in here from time to time let people know how I’m currently fairing. I’m glad I’ve reached a point where I’m not itching for something else. I’ve burnt some bridges in this final flip back to Apple.

I’ve also started therapy because I do think there is some underlying issue with contentment.

Been following this thread since day one - glad to see you have finally settled on a solution that works (including a PS5!). Good luck with the therapy also.

To expand slightly on your Mac setup - does that extend to mobile/cloud etc also? In other words, are you 100% Apple all-in, also using iPhone/iPad/iCloud as part of your overall setup? Or do you have other solutions - Android etc - in the mix?

 

[LiE_]

Been following this thread since day one - glad to see you have finally settled on a solution that works (including a PS5!). Good luck with the therapy also.

To expand slightly on your Mac setup - does that extend to mobile/cloud etc also? In other words, are you 100% Apple all-in, also using iPhone/iPad/iCloud as part of your overall setup? Or do you have other solutions - Android etc - in the mix?

It does extend to cloud as well, both my wife and son are all Apple too so makes things easier for shared notes, calendar, photo libraries etc. The only thing I have that isn’t Apple is my home automation, which is basic really. I have some Nest cameras at home and at our business and our doorbell is Nest. These connect nicely to the Google smart speakers and screens we have around the house for playing music and controlling lights.

My son has a gaming laptop he uses purely for gaming, although in hindsight he could have played Minecraft and Roblox on a Mac just as easily.

I’m glad I’ve reached this point, looking back at my old posts show so much mental gymnastics to land on decisions. The biggest consistent reason for flipping over the years is my inability to step away from what I’ve always known - gaming PCs I’ve built. Gaming will never be the same as the glory days and I’ve not been able to recapture that.

The PS5 helps with the itch and serves as a reminder that I’m no longer the gamer I once was.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

It does extend to cloud as well, both my wife and son are all Apple too so makes things easier for shared notes, calendar, photo libraries etc. The only thing I have that isn’t Apple is my home automation, which is basic really. I have some Nest cameras at home and at our business and our doorbell is Nest. These connect nicely to the Google smart speakers and screens we have around the house for playing music and controlling lights.

My son has a gaming laptop he uses purely for gaming, although in hindsight he could have played Minecraft and Roblox on a Mac just as easily.

I’m glad I’ve reached this point, looking back at my old posts show so much mental gymnastics to land on decisions. The biggest consistent reason for flipping over the years is my inability to step away from what I’ve always known - gaming PCs I’ve built. Gaming will never be the same as the glory days and I’ve not been able to recapture that.

The PS5 helps with the itch and serves as a reminder that I’m no longer the gamer I once was.

Yeah that really does make the whole situation easier. If I could just casually game instead of AAA titles, then I could get by with a beefier Macbook Pro and call it a day. Ah well. I am glad you have found your solution!

 

[wonderings]

You are not going to get one machine that does everything perfectly. Not a power user of Office 365 but do use it for work for outlook and teams mainly. Light excel and Word use, they all run as I expect them to. I love the Mac eco system but for gaming Mac is just never going to be there so have a gaming PC as well. I just built one a few months ago and was very simple to put everything together, had no issues setting anything up and Windows installed quickly and cleanly. One caveat is that I have Windows 11 Enterprise through work, so I think I avoid a lot of bloat and other weird things people might not like about Windows. Not sure what that all is but the main one is I can make an account without have a Microsoft account of any kind, and I don't need to fight to do this, simply made my username and password and away I went. I only use the PC for games, nothing terribly high end but GTA V, Red Dead 2, Star Citizen and Cyber Punk. They all run amazing. The great thing is I want to upgrade to increase some performance depending on needs I can add more RAM to it, can add a few more NVME drives for internal fast storage, all with ease and never having to worry about buying a computer and never being able to upgrade it.

So for my case Mac is for work and creative stuff, PC is simply for games. I would never want to run my work stuff in Windows, did that for a year and hate the OS for that. On the opposite end for games they run so well on a PC and I can upgrade so would never want to trade that for a closed system that Apple is. So the only solution in my opinion is have both.

 

[Steve Adams]

I’m still here, still fully Apple. I think this thread has gone a little off topic with a few active posters documenting everything to do with hardware which isn’t flip flop related, and it’s not a discussion I’m interested in.

I may come and post in here from time to time let people know how I’m currently fairing. I’m glad I’ve reached a point where I’m not itching for something else. I’ve burnt some bridges in this final flip back to Apple.

I’ve also started therapy because I do think there is some underlying issue with contentment.

Great to hear. That's all that matters. Like myself. I have given in to the fact that I enjoy windows for my computing after going back and forth with Linux and looking at Macs.

Just what I enjoy. Everything works with windows and it's not a terrible experience as others would have believed.

I am happy with my decision and we are fully content with our systems

 

[BSDnostalgia]

I only use the PC for games, nothing terribly high end but GTA V, Red Dead 2, Star Citizen and Cyber Punk. They all run amazing.

Forgive me for commenting, because, although I have played the occasional game over the decades, I'm not a gamer.
One thing I'm really not sure of is the significance of fairly recent (looking back over the decades) features that figure in the battle between Nvidia and AMD. Looking back, about 10 years ago, dGPUs achieved the ability to run raster-based games "fast enough". AMD had caught up with Nvidia, and both had high-end GPUs that could do HD games at full resolution at 60 fps. Then, new battlegrounds were found. 1440p, widescreen, 4K, and fps from 85-120-? fps (why?). And then Ray Tracing.

In the meantime, for the older-fashioned raster world, Apple M-series (AS) has basically caught up. Game performance I see written up on review sites shows the M5 Max equal to, say, RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT, which are about equal. That is really fast. To me. But, suddenly, to me, Ray Tracing is everything and AS < AMD < Nvidia. So, some games use RT, which then suggests Nvidia, and the best games that use RT are the games to play.

I can't help wondering about two questions:

1) If the actual game being played really is the "GPU game" rather than "Cyber Punk"? Or, does RT really matter a lot for what makes a game good? How fast do fps have to do before no one honestly can detect the difference?

2) If Ray Tracing is really that important, how hard would/will it be for AS GPUs to catch up in RT, as they have in the raster-graphics world. And, if AS does catch up in RT, would that really matter to gamers, because they/you are just too embedded in the Nvidia/AMD worlds anyway?

So for my case Mac is for work and creative stuff, PC is simply for games. I would never want to run my work stuff in Windows

I find the Windows operating system even more wrong-headed today than when I first encountered NT back in circa 1993. At least back then, they sort of had NT going on Alpha, MIPS and PPC. But, already, the third-party software industry only cared about x86 and bug-for-bug backward compatibility with Windows 3.1. Microsoft still can't seem to get traction on ARM systems with the third-party developers, even though ARM has so many advantages in the low-power space.

Just what I enjoy. Everything works with windows and it's not a terrible experience as others would have believed.

If it works for you, ^ , that is great. But, I can't go this far: "^" . Yes, it is. 😉

 

[salamanderjuice]

Forgive me for commenting, because, although I have played the occasional game over the decades, I'm not a gamer.
One thing I'm really not sure of is the significance of fairly recent (looking back over the decades) features that figure in the battle between Nvidia and AMD. Looking back, about 10 years ago, dGPUs achieved the ability to run raster-based games "fast enough". AMD had caught up with Nvidia, and both had high-end GPUs that could do HD games at full resolution at 60 fps. Then, new battlegrounds were found. 1440p, widescreen, 4K, and fps from 85-120-? fps (why?). And then Ray Tracing.

In the meantime, for the older-fashioned raster world, Apple M-series (AS) has basically caught up. Game performance I see written up on review sites shows the M5 Max equal to, say, RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT, which are about equal. That is really fast. To me. But, suddenly, to me, Ray Tracing is everything and AS < AMD < Nvidia. So, some games use RT, which then suggests Nvidia, and the best games that use RT are the games to play.

I can't help wondering about two questions:

1) If the actual game being played really is the "GPU game" rather than "Cyber Punk"? Or, does RT really matter a lot for what makes a game good? How fast do fps have to do before no one honestly can detect the difference?

2) If Ray Tracing is really that important, how hard would/will it be for AS GPUs to catch up in RT, as they have in the raster-graphics world. And, if AS does catch up in RT, would that really matter to gamers, because they/you are just too embedded in the Nvidia/AMD worlds anyway?



I find the Windows operating system even more wrong-headed today than when I first encountered NT back in circa 1993. At least back then, they sort of had NT going on Alpha, MIPS and PPC. But, already, the third-party software industry only cared about x86 and bug-for-bug backward compatibility with Windows 3.1. Microsoft still can't seem to get traction on ARM systems with the third-party developers, even though ARM has so many advantages in the low-power space.



If it works for you, ^ , that is great. But, I can't go this far: "^" . Yes, it is. 😉

RT is valuable because it can save developer effort, increase number of lighting scenarios (day,night, overcast, sunny, etc.) and also improve lighting accuracy in general. It doesn't make a game "good" or not. A good game can have no RT and a bad one can have RT.

Faster FPS (when not using frame generation), means lower latency and a smoother picture. Heavy RT can greatly tank framerates affecting the feel and look of the game. There is a bit of a diminishing return to ever higher framerates but when someone notices will vary from person to person. 60 FPS over 30 FPS is noticeable to most people, 120 FPS over 60 FPS is a bit less so, 240 FPS less so again. For competitive gaming lower latency can give an edge and sometimes reduced visual effects can too so it's not uncommon for very high level players to play on the lowest settings to maximize framerates and visibility. RT doesn't do anything from a competitive standpoint generally so it's often turned off if possible by those kinds of players.

Even if Apple shipped GPUs with better performance than a 5090 in all aspects I don't think it would have much impact. It's less about the hardware and more about the games. They just aren't on macOS for the most part. Maybe if it was really competitively priced it would have an impact.

 

[Steve Adams]

Forgive me for commenting, because, although I have played the occasional game over the decades, I'm not a gamer.
One thing I'm really not sure of is the significance of fairly recent (looking back over the decades) features that figure in the battle between Nvidia and AMD. Looking back, about 10 years ago, dGPUs achieved the ability to run raster-based games "fast enough". AMD had caught up with Nvidia, and both had high-end GPUs that could do HD games at full resolution at 60 fps. Then, new battlegrounds were found. 1440p, widescreen, 4K, and fps from 85-120-? fps (why?). And then Ray Tracing.

In the meantime, for the older-fashioned raster world, Apple M-series (AS) has basically caught up. Game performance I see written up on review sites shows the M5 Max equal to, say, RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT, which are about equal. That is really fast. To me. But, suddenly, to me, Ray Tracing is everything and AS < AMD < Nvidia. So, some games use RT, which then suggests Nvidia, and the best games that use RT are the games to play.

I can't help wondering about two questions:

1) If the actual game being played really is the "GPU game" rather than "Cyber Punk"? Or, does RT really matter a lot for what makes a game good? How fast do fps have to do before no one honestly can detect the difference?

2) If Ray Tracing is really that important, how hard would/will it be for AS GPUs to catch up in RT, as they have in the raster-graphics world. And, if AS does catch up in RT, would that really matter to gamers, because they/you are just too embedded in the Nvidia/AMD worlds anyway?



I find the Windows operating system even more wrong-headed today than when I first encountered NT back in circa 1993. At least back then, they sort of had NT going on Alpha, MIPS and PPC. But, already, the third-party software industry only cared about x86 and bug-for-bug backward compatibility with Windows 3.1. Microsoft still can't seem to get traction on ARM systems with the third-party developers, even though ARM has so many advantages in the low-power space.



If it works for you, ^ , that is great. But, I can't go this far: "^" . Yes, it is. 😉

Not as bad as macos. That's for sure

 

[eltoslightfoot]

RT is valuable because it can save developer effort, increase number of lighting scenarios (day,night, overcast, sunny, etc.) and also improve lighting accuracy in general. It doesn't make a game "good" or not. A good game can have no RT and a bad one can have RT.

Faster FPS (when not using frame generation), means lower latency and a smoother picture. Heavy RT can greatly tank framerates affecting the feel and look of the game. There is a bit of a diminishing return to ever higher framerates but when someone notices will vary from person to person. 60 FPS over 30 FPS is noticeable to most people, 120 FPS over 60 FPS is a bit less so, 240 FPS less so again. For competitive gaming lower latency can give an edge and sometimes reduced visual effects can too so it's not uncommon for very high level players to play on the lowest settings to maximize framerates and visibility. RT doesn't do anything from a competitive standpoint generally so it's often turned off if possible by those kinds of players.

Even if Apple shipped GPUs with better performance than a 5090 in all aspects I don't think it would have much impact. It's less about the hardware and more about the games. They just aren't on macOS for the most part. Maybe if it was really competitively priced it would have an impact.

I find that I like FPS at 90 and up for competitive FPS (like Apex Legends or Overwatch). Luckily I can go to Medium/High and easily achieve that on my RTX 5090 gaming laptop. For RTSes and RPGs, 60 and up is enough. I will push these as much as I can (High to Ultra, etc., and sacrifice some FPS.

Mac just isn't as stable at gaming--it also isn't as performant. That said, it does the basics fine. When I travel I can run Teamfight Tactics (uses League of Legends client) and a few other Steam games like Age of Wonders just fine on an M4 Air.

 

[leemkule]

I’ve also started therapy because I do think there is some underlying issue with contentment.

It does extend to cloud as well, both my wife and son are all Apple too so makes things easier for shared notes, calendar, photo libraries etc. The only thing I have that isn’t Apple is my home automation, which is basic really. I have some Nest cameras at home and at our business and our doorbell is Nest. These connect nicely to the Google smart speakers and screens we have around the house for playing music and controlling lights.

My son has a gaming laptop he uses purely for gaming, although in hindsight he could have played Minecraft and Roblox on a Mac just as easily.

I’m glad I’ve reached this point, looking back at my old posts show so much mental gymnastics to land on decisions. The biggest consistent reason for flipping over the years is my inability to step away from what I’ve always known - gaming PCs I’ve built. Gaming will never be the same as the glory days and I’ve not been able to recapture that.

The PS5 helps with the itch and serves as a reminder that I’m no longer the gamer I once was.

Good on you man, I think it's great that you've realised that this flip flopping thing has an underlying issue.

I do relate to that whole gamer thing though. I grew up with gaming PCs and to some extent I still identify with that old life even though I haven't really PC gamed seriously in about 20 years, but I think it's something we hold on to because it was such a big part of our lives growing up.

In reality though, I used to game 5-16 hours a day and if you do anything for that much time you get hooked/engaged. It that simply isn't compatible with an adult life and none of my peers are doing that, so even if you did get really into it you'd probably be playing with loads of people way younger which isn't really the same.

 

[maflynn]

I’m still here, still fully Apple.

Nice, and hopefully your journey to contentment continues in a positive manner.

 

[Steve Adams]

Nice, and hopefully your journey to contentment continues in a positive manner.

The journey is always positive. No matter where you settle or don't settle. As long as you / he / she / they are happy. I will fire snark back when I say say windows 11 is awesome FOR ME and someone says NO IT'S NOT. how do they know? MacOS is NOT awesome for me. Then they go YES IT IS....again how do they know.

It's great we have choice and as long as people are happy with their choice is all that matters. It would suck if everything in the world was the same vanilla with no choices. Some people want that for the world which baffles me.

LiE found his happy place, I have found mine, and others have found theirs in Linux, which I will always have one linux system to mess around with. But until the software I use is officially supported, I cannot move.

As for gaming, I have a PS3 an OG XBOX and an XBOX 360 that suits my needs. ha ha. I am going to enroll in game pass again for decenders. I love that game. My family are outdoorsy, we camp, hike, bike, kayak, snowboard, showshoe etc. So that game alone is worth the price of admission for me.

 

[Steve Adams]

I am in the windows space right now. And really, Nothing out there come close to the macbooks for price vs. performance. Plus windows right now is a complete mess. Something close to a macbook pro 14 with less ports (nothing in the 14 inch space in windows even has a sd card reader anymore), is at least 80 % to 100 % more in costs to get similar performance. Apple silicon has the magic sauce for price vs performance now.

THat's why the neo is so tempting for me to try out. The A18 pro is more powerful than my current intel system I have now and it's 999 for the 512gb. A similar Zenbook A14 with 32gb of ram and a 1tb is 1499.99. However, the X elite chip is not as good as the 18 pro chip at doing creative workflows.

Wow, this aged badly. Ha ha. Since MS came out stating they have heard the complaints and are starting to reverse course, I am fine with sticking with windows.

I won't be wasting thousands again to only sell and spend thousands more on new windows systems. I shall just stay the course. Use what I have and when it dies, get new stuff. I am typing this on my "crappy" ipad 10th gen. Supposedly this is a terrible device according to every tech "influencer" on YouTube. I say otherwise. I love my little iPad for sitting at the table or taking on road trips where I don't take my full tech bag with me. It's a 5g model as well so I have connectivity everywhere.

Don't listen to others telling you want you "Need". Listen to yourself and use what you know you need. I would love to have a surface Go to replace this but I would lose Mobile connectivity so I am staying with this until it dies or is no longer supported.

 

[Steve Adams]

Hello darkness my old friend......I have been looking at mac's again...Their beautiful chassis tempting me.....So nice to edit photos and videos for all to see.......and so is the sound......of......silence.

Yep. I am checking them and a new iPad out again.....when will the cycle stop?

 

[pshufd]

Hello darkness my old friend......I have been looking at mac's again...Their beautiful chassis tempting me.....So nice to edit photos and videos for all to see.......and so is the sound......of......silence.

Yep. I am checking them and a new iPad out again.....when will the cycle stop?

It's easier to just have both.

 

[Steve Adams]

It's easier to just have both.

I am trying to streamline. Depending how much room I have in our new house for my camera, computing, and music gear. I may have to streamline my setup to one PC/MAC and an iPad. Instead of the 4 PCs and ipad I have now. So decisions decisions. See what happens after we sell the house and get something new. I need to just stay off Apple's website and Amazon renewed. That seems to be when the spiral happens. ha ha ha.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

It's easier to just have both.

And here I keep trying to not have both LOL.

 

[Steve Adams]

Yess, my laptop acted up again last night. I have to find a replacement motherboard for it. I can't give it up. It's been with me for years and still kicks it (most times).

I just looked at the dell website the "new version" of this laptop is listed at 2899.00 it was 1659 before the rampocalypse.

 

[pshufd]

I put the GTX 1660 Ti back in my Windows PC and made some optimizations and performance has improved. The GPU means better transitions on virtual desktops and I am now running two monitors (removed one from the Mac Studio). System is overall more smooth.

I modified Firefox to use the GPU for rendering and this has produced a bigger improvement, particularly for YouTube.

It's also made a big improvement in running a Windows virtual machine. Virtual machines do a lot of redrawing of the display and I guess the GPU is taking over most of that from the CPU resulting in smoother performance.

I would like to add using the GPU for Think or Swim and Active Trader Pro but I have to find the images. Both of these programs use hidden directories for their executables. Think or Swim is a Java program and ships with its own Java but it's hidden. Active Trader Pro is an executable but it's also hidden and neither are in the Program Files directories.

I was in Allston (Boston) yesterday and it would have been easy to drive to Microcenter in Cambridge but they didn't have my favored 270K bundle. They do have it back in stock today.

I'm going to stick with the old system for now as it is comfortable for what I need it for. But I'll keep the 250K, 270K and 9700K in mind for a future build. The 9700K is probably the best CPU for my needs and wants as it's only one Chiplet so it doesn't have the cross-chiplet cache issues and it's also the lowest-power CPU because of the single chiplet. Single-core performance is better than those with more cores too. The problem with the 9700K is that Microcenter considers it a budget option and they pair budget motherboards with it in their bundles. I want PCIe Gen 5 features in a motherboard and the bundle options are only Gen 4.

I plan to move more of you office stuff to Windows. The shout out on Obsidian has been a bit of a life-altering change in my setup because I rely on notes so heavily.

I could see myself selling my M1 Max Studio and using my iMac Pro to take over stuff that the M1 Max Studio took care of. I'd be an all-Intel shop on the desktop until end-of-support for the iMac Pro. I would like to eventually go to a Studio hoping that Fidelity solves their trading platform issues so that they have a good product on Apple Silicon but that's a hope thing and nothing that they have in their official plans.

I still like macOS and Windows is utilitarian and reliable enough for me. I don't see Linux in the near future unless I can migrate more office programs to it. I still use Downie over Windows alternatives because it has the most features that I like in a video downloader. I also need a Mac just for syncing my mobile devices. I can do it in Windows but it's not as smooth.

One other consideration would be an Apple Silicon iMac Pro. Unfortunately I suspect that Apple is going to do a 6K or 8K 30-32 inch which wouldn't fit in with my other monitors. I really want to stick with 27 inches.

 

[Steve Adams]

I put the GTX 1660 Ti back in my Windows PC and made some optimizations and performance has improved. The GPU means better transitions on virtual desktops and I am now running two monitors (removed one from the Mac Studio). System is overall more smooth.

I modified Firefox to use the GPU for rendering and this has produced a bigger improvement, particularly for YouTube.

It's also made a big improvement in running a Windows virtual machine. Virtual machines do a lot of redrawing of the display and I guess the GPU is taking over most of that from the CPU resulting in smoother performance.

I would like to add using the GPU for Think or Swim and Active Trader Pro but I have to find the images. Both of these programs use hidden directories for their executables. Think or Swim is a Java program and ships with its own Java but it's hidden. Active Trader Pro is an executable but it's also hidden and neither are in the Program Files directories.

I was in Allston (Boston) yesterday and it would have been easy to drive to Microcenter in Cambridge but they didn't have my favored 270K bundle. They do have it back in stock today.

I'm going to stick with the old system for now as it is comfortable for what I need it for. But I'll keep the 250K, 270K and 9700K in mind for a future build. The 9700K is probably the best CPU for my needs and wants as it's only one Chiplet so it doesn't have the cross-chiplet cache issues and it's also the lowest-power CPU because of the single chiplet. Single-core performance is better than those with more cores too. The problem with the 9700K is that Microcenter considers it a budget option and they pair budget motherboards with it in their bundles. I want PCIe Gen 5 features in a motherboard and the bundle options are only Gen 4.

I plan to move more of you office stuff to Windows. The shout out on Obsidian has been a bit of a life-altering change in my setup because I rely on notes so heavily.

I could see myself selling my M1 Max Studio and using my iMac Pro to take over stuff that the M1 Max Studio took care of. I'd be an all-Intel shop on the desktop until end-of-support for the iMac Pro. I would like to eventually go to a Studio hoping that Fidelity solves their trading platform issues so that they have a good product on Apple Silicon but that's a hope thing and nothing that they have in their official plans.

I still like macOS and Windows is utilitarian and reliable enough for me. I don't see Linux in the near future unless I can migrate more office programs to it. I still use Downie over Windows alternatives because it has the most features that I like in a video downloader. I also need a Mac just for syncing my mobile devices. I can do it in Windows but it's not as smooth.

One other consideration would be an Apple Silicon iMac Pro. Unfortunately I suspect that Apple is going to do a 6K or 8K 30-32 inch which wouldn't fit in with my other monitors. I really want to stick with 27 inches.

What do you mean by syncing your phones?

 

[pshufd]

What do you mean by syncing your phones?

Apple Music, Apple TV, Podcasts, iBooks, Calendar, Notes (before Obsidian), Reminders, Numbers, Contacts, Messages.

A 270K system would likely give me the ability to run a Sequoia virtual machine with a smooth UI but getting files from Windows into the VM could still be a headache.

 

[maflynn]

Apple Music, Apple TV, Podcasts, iBooks, Calendar, Notes (before Obsidian), Reminders, Numbers, Contacts, Messages.

I never found a solution that offered something turn-key. Nothing really worked across the board with syncing with my iOS products. Prior to my Mac studio, I had used my M1 MBP, but that was never at my desk, so now I have something that easily syncs to my phone and is only one KVM button away from accessing it.

 

[Steve Adams]

Apple Music, Apple TV, Podcasts, iBooks, Calendar, Notes (before Obsidian), Reminders, Numbers, Contacts, Messages.

A 270K system would likely give me the ability to run a Sequoia virtual machine with a smooth UI but getting files from Windows into the VM could still be a headache.

Gotcha. I use AM even though we are not on any apple devices. I use ondrive, onenote, and phone link. All three can do everything besides books and Apple products. Apple just syncs across all anyways. I use cider for my am on windows.